In a tale of two pianists, Canberra is to be entertained with fine piano playing on Friday, when French virtuoso Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and rising Italian star Andrea Molteni take the stage, but in separate concerts.

Snow Concert Hall staff say they can hardly believe that Bavouzet, celebrated as one of the greatest pianists of our time, will walk on their stage to play the music of both Claude Debussy and Robert Schumann.

Bavouzet has recently appeared with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, play-directed a three-concerto program with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and toured the Baltics with the Manchester Camerata. In recital, he continues a three-year residency at Wigmore Hall, titled Autour de Debussy.

On the same night at Wesley Music Centre, young Italian piano talent Andrea Molteni performs works by JS Bach, Luigi Dallapiccola, Beethoven and Liszt as part of his first Australian tour.

Molteni is developing an international profile, with appearances in the US, Italy, UK, Europe, China and Singapore.

At the age of 15, he formed a youth orchestra, L’Orchestra del Lago, then a scholarship from the Cercle Wagner Association in France supported his performance in the Bayreuth Festival celebrating the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner and concerts in Nice, Menton, Cannes, and Monte Carlo.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Snow Concert Hall, and Andrea Molteni, at Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, both on  November 1.

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